News

The Rangers Charity Foundation was delighted to welcome, Douglas Hutchison, Executive Director of Education for Glasgow City Council, to Ibrox to visit our SQA Programme Of Wider Achievement.

The Wider Achievement programme has helped young people across the city re-engage with their education to help them build a brighter future. We work with a variety of schools to support pupils who may not be engaging optimally but could benefit from a different learning environment. Pupils come to Ibrox Stadium one day a week to gain qualifications, get exposure to industry partners and develop their skills.

Commenting on his visit Douglas Hutchison said:

“It’s been really amazing to come here I have to say. I’m so impressed with the work that’s going on in the Ibrox Community Hub and it’s clearly built on developing really good relationships with the young people. It was also really great to see the passion and commitment from the staff which ensures that they can get the best from the young people attending these courses and clearly the attendees are appreciating it.”

“I think it’s really important that we continue to engage with young people that aren’t maybe on the right path at the moment. For some of them, sitting behind a desk in that school environment, just doesn’t suit so we need to come up with creative alternatives that will engage them and meet their needs so that we can meet them where they are.”

“That’s what’s happening at Ibrox and having visited today, it’s very clear to me that this method is working.”

Wider Achievement recognises the life and work skills that come from a wide range of activities which can include sport, mentoring, voluntary work or fundraising activities — whether they take place at school, college or elsewhere.

There are a number of SQA Awards and other qualifications from SCQF levels 1 to 6 which are suitable for a wide range of learners that we can thanks to our SQA Approved Centre status. We can therefore offer SQA qualifications which recognise wider achievement and the development of skills which will help learners to succeed in today’s world. First Aid and Mental Health First Aid are just some examples of the accreditation available.

Foundation Community Programmes Manager, Jamie Duncanson, also said:

“We were delighted to welcome Director of Education for Glasgow, Douglas Hutchison, to the Ibrox Community Hub today to see our Wider Achievement programme in action supporting pupils from Rosshall Academy, Bannerman High and Holyrood Secondary.”

“The Foundation’s SQA Wider Achievement programme currently supports over 200 school pupils one day per week, giving them vocational exposure as part of their school curriculum.”

For further information please contact Jamie Duncanson on 0141 580 8740 or via the e-mail address: jamieduncanson@rangers.co.uk.